Immeasurably More!

Ephesians 3:14-20
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen

What a lovely prayer to have stuck in my head!  This year I was excited to find myself with some time to watch a few of the sessions from the Passion 2013 conference.  I love the fact that when I was a college student I got to go to the first Passion conference in 1997.  Because I was so deeply impacted by my experiences there, I like to keep up with what they are up to.

 Anyway, while listening to the first session Louie referred to verse 20 of this passage where it says,

 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work with in us....."  

I think maybe he asked something like "Do we really believe that God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine?"  I might be close to what he said or  he might have something completely different, I'm not sure I remember exactly.   Still,  I'm telling ya'll that in light of that passage, the question that the Lord had for me is:

Do  I really believe that God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine?   

The coolest thing is that ever since the day I got to catch up with Passion, that question has caused me to identify and change my defeated thinking patterns quite often over the last few days.  Until the Lord began to bring it to my attention, I didn't realize how often I deal with circumstances in my life from a defeated perspective.  More often than I realized I would come across a circumstance in my day and find myself in a state of passive resignation rather than a place of hopeful anticipation.

As those moments have been revealed to me, I've sort of had this refrain caught in my head, a sort of paraphrase of the verse fragment..... He is able to do immeasurably more than I ask or imagine....

Do I have the strength to change this habit?

 He is able to do immeasurably more than I ask or imagine!

How can I possibly deal with this crisis?

He is able to do immeasurably more than I ask or imagine!

Will I be able to do what I need to do?

He is able to do immeasurably more than I ask or imagine!

It's pretty cool because now instead of facing all the ordinary issues I face every day with dogged determination, I have noticed that I am more expectantly watchful.

What will God do in THIS situation? 

Our hope is assured because we serve the Risen Savior who has not only defeated death, but who proceeds us in triumphant victory! In any case, I feel very challenged and excited about what is to come.  I also hope that you will join me in praying this prayer for me, for yourself and for each other because what could be more sweet than to live a life like this?

 "....being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." 

Nothing could be better than that!